Sheet-feeding machine.



F. L. (moss;

SHEET FEEDING MACHINE.

APPLIQATION FILED MAY 22, 1905.

957,847.- Patented May 10,1910.

To all whom it may concern:

UNITED STATES PATENT F CE.

FRANK Ii. GROSS, OF MYSTIC, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO CROSS IPAPE B FEEDER COM- PANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

SHEET-FEEDING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 10, 1910.

Application filed May 22, 1905. Serial No. 261,545.

Be it known that I, FRANK L. Gnoss, citizen of the United States, and resident of Mystic, county of New London, Connecticut, have invented certain new'and useful Improvements in Sheet-Feed Machines, of

' which the following is a specification.

supported by thin fingers My improvements relate to machines in which sheets are fed into position to be seized by the grippers of a rotary cylinder and are designed more especially for use in connection with cylinder printing presses.

Tn feeding sheets to the cylinder of a printing press the sheet is positioned a ainst front gages arranged above the cylin er of the press and close to the upper surface of the cylinder. The front edge of the sheet when in position against the front gages is rojectin from the front edge of the feedcard and lying close to the surface of the cylinder. The front gages rest upon these fingers as the sheet is fed into position and the edge of the sheet is thus directed against the front gages which act to accurately position the front edge of the sheet. The front gages are raised just previous to the engagement of l the grippers with the sheet sothat the sheet is free to be carried forward by the gri pers. The presence of the fingers under t e front edge of the sheet at the time the sheet is pressed against the surface of the cylinder by the grippers causes buckles or bends to be formed in the edge of the sheet .at the points where the tin ers are located. In doing certain classes 0 work, in which ver accurate register of the sheets is essentia, the formation of these bends in the edge of the sheet is liable to disturb the register of the sheet and thus produceimperfect work}. In cases where feeding mechanism is em} ployed for automatically feeding the sheets into position to be seized by the grippers,

. additional fingers are frequently employed which extend under the edge of the sheet when it is in osition to be seized by the grippers and w ich cooperate with other de- It customary to make the fingers which extend beneath the front edge of the sheet,

as thin as practicable in order that the sheet shall lie as close to the surface ofthe cylinder as is practicable when it is in position to be seized by the grippers and so that the fingers will form the least possible bend in the sheet when the sheet is seized by the.

grippers. In doing the greatv majority of work which is usually done upon printing presses of this character, the presence 0 these fingers does not materially interfere with the proper register of the sheet. In doing some classes of work however, in which extremely accurate register is essential,the presence of these fingers beneath the front edge of'the sheet and especially the presence of the fingers forinin a part of the stop mechanism, revents t e requisite accurate register of e sheet and renders the use of automatic feeding mechanism impracticable when doing this class of work.

It is the object of my present invention to overcome the objections and difficulties above explained and I accomplish this by providmechanism for withdrawing the fingers 0 re the sheet is seized by the grippers and' then returning the fingers to their operative position prevlous to the feeding of the succeeding sheet into position against the front gages. When'the fingers are thus operated the front edge of the sheet may rest smoothly against the surface of the cylinder at the time the sheet is seized by the grippers, thus avoiding any lateral displacement of the sheet or any change in the relation of either edge of the sheet to the form against which it is tobe carried by the cylinder.

It is usually necessary that .the'fingers which form a art of the stop mechanism, should be thic er than it is customary "to make the fingers which support the sheets against the front gages, and it is therefore frequently desirable to withdraw these thicker fingers in doing work which does not require the withdrawal of the thinner fingers. In practicing my invention therefore, I may withdraw a part only of the fingers which extend beneath the front edge of the sheet or I may withdraw all of such fingers according to the conditions under-which the machine to which the invention is applied is to 0 rate.

e invention will be readily understood 1 from the following detailed description of the device shown in the accompanying drawv ing-s, in which one form of the lnvention 18 shown applied to a cylinder printing press.

In these drawings Figure 1 is a side elevation showing so much of the feed-board of a printing press as is necessary to an understanding of the present improvements; Fig. 2 is a partial View of the same showing the parts in a different position; Fig. 3 is a detail plan view of the fingers which project beneath the front edge of the sheet when in position at the front gages and of the bar to which they are secured; and F1 4 is-a sectional detail showing the notch 1n the end of the finger which forms a part of the mechanism for throwing the machine out of operation.

In the construction shown in the drawings,'A indicates a printing press cylinder which is provided with grippersA wh ch are operated in the usual manner to selze and release the front edge of the sheet. The sheets S are supposed to be fed into position to be seized by the grippers by feeding mechanism which advances the sheets in succession over the sheet support B which is mounted above the feed board B of the ress. The sheet is fed into position with its front edge engaging the front gages C' and is then acted upon by side register de-- vices as is usual in automaticall feeding sheets to'printing presses. The out edge of the sheet su. ported and directed against the front ages fingers D which project from the ont ecl ge of the feed board and lie close-to the surface of the cylinder and beneath the-front gages. In addition to the fingers D which coopcrate with the front gages, one or more fin-' 40 ers E are rovided which extend beneath t e front e ge ofthe sheet when it is in position against the front gages. Each of these fingers is. provided with a notch E which lies just back of the front edge of the sheet when the sheet is in engagement with the front. gages. Cooperating with this notched finger E is a controlling finger F pivoted at 'f to a rock arm F. The rock arm F is secured to a rock shaft F which is rocked at proper intervals to cause the controlling finger F to move forward and backalong the notched finger E. If a sheet is in position against the front gages at'the time the controlling finger is moved forward, this sheet covers the notch E so that the controlling finger is guided over the notch by the sheet. The rear end of the controlling fin er is arranged to engage a stop pin f on t e rock arm F after the lower end of the finger has assed the notch E so that the finger is li d during the con- 7 tinned movement of the rock arm F as indicated in Fig. 2. In case the sheet is not "properly fed to the front gages into position to cover the notch E, then as the controller of a transverse respectively.

finger advances it engages the notch E thus arresting the movement of the rock arm F. The arrest of the controlling finger and rock arm acts through suitable mechanism, not shown, to cause the driving mechanism for the feeding device and for the press to be thrown out of o eration. The fingers E are shown merely or the purpose of illustrating one form of finger which may be employed as a part of a mechanism for controlling the operation of the feeding device and of the press, and it will be understood that my invention may be emplo ed in connection with any other form 0 finger arranged to lie between the front edge of the 30 sheet and the surface of the impression cyl inder' when the sheet is in position against the front gages and to cooperate with other devices in effecting the stopping of the machine in case the sheet is not properly fed.

If the fingers D and E remain 1n their active position at the time whenthe grippers A seize the front edge of the sheet, they will prevent the front edge of the sheet from engaging the surface of the cylinder at the points where they are located and will thus produce bends in the sheet and may affect the lateral osition of the sheet upon the impression cy inder to a suflicient extent to prevent accurate register. In practicing my invention I eliminate all danger of thus affecting the register of the sheet by providing means for withdrawing the fingers before the sheet is seized by the grippers A. The means which I prefer to emplo for this purpose consists fiar G to which the fingers are secured and which is reciprocated at proper intervals b means of a cam G. The bar G is arrange transversely of the sheet 1 support and is guided by means of pins g arranged to engage slots g formed in arms Gr projecting from the'ends' of the bar G. The connectlons between the bar and the cam G consists of a lever Gr connected by means of a link G with the bar and provided with a roll G which is held in engagement with the cam by means of a spring G".

In order that the fingers D and E may be adjusted laterally according to the size of the sheet being operated upon, I connect these fingers with the bar G by means of plates E D provided with jaws which frictionally engage'the bar. I also prefer to provide for longitudinal adjustment of the fingers by connecting them to the plates E D by means of screws E D passin through slots formed in the plates E D The operation of the parts is so timed that the fingers D and E are in the position indicated inv Fig. l at the time that the front edge of the sheet is engaged with the front gages C when the sheets are being properly 133 VVhile the cy position shown in Fig. 1, into the position eraser forward causing the controller finger to ride along the upper edge of the sheet until the end of the controller finger passes beyond the notch E, after which the finger is swung up into the osition indicated in Fig. 2.

linder A is rotating from the shown in Fig. 2, the front gages C are raised and the fingers D E are retracted into the position indicated in Fig. 2. This movement of the .fingers withdraws them from between the front edge of the sheet and the surface of the cylinder so that the front edge of the sheet rests smoothly against the surface of the cylinder as the grip ers act to press the sheet against the sur aceof the cylinder. Thus the. sheet is taken by the grippers of the cylinder without any danger of lateral displacement owin to buckles orbends formed inthe sheet y the fingers which project beneath the front edge of the l a sheet when it is in position against the front gages. After the grippers have seized the sheet and before the succeeding sheet is brought into position a ainst the front gages, the fingers D and are returned to the position indicated in Fig. 1, where they will underlie the front edge of the sheet when it is in position against the' front. gages. This return of the fingers may take place just before the front ed e of the succeeding sheet is brought a a1nst'the front gages or at any time after t e front "edge of the preceding sheet has been seized by the grippers.

In the construction shown T have provided means for withdrawing the fingers which cooperate with the front gages, as well as the fingers-whichv form. a part of the stop mechanism, and in doing work which requires extremely accurate register, itwill be found desirable to thus Withdraw all the fingers which may extend beneath the front edge of the sheet when in position against the front gages. In doing many classes of Work however, the "presence beneath the front edge of the sheet of the fingers which cooperate with the front gages, is not objectionable for the reason that these fingers ma be formed of very thin sheet metal which will not se arate the sheet from the surface of the cy inder sufficiently to ma terially affect the register. in many cases however, where the presence of the fingers cotiperating with the front gages is not ob j ectionable, the presence of thafingers forming a part of the stop mechanism may be found objectionable and in such cases the fingers of the stop mechanism may be with drawn, while the fingers coiiperating with the front gages may be mounted in the usual manner and remain in their active position.

edge of the fee when in position to be seized by the Without attem ting to set forthin detail all the forms and mechanisms in which the invention may be embodied, what T claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is l. The combination of a cylinder provided with grippers, a feed board, a transverse bar arranged below the path of the sheets, fingers adjustably secured upon the bar and extending forward beneath the front ed e of the sheet when'in position to be seize by, the grippers, and mechanism for operating the bar-to-withdraw the fingers from beneath the front edge of the sheet before the sheet is seized by the grippers. i

2. The combination of a cylinder pro vided with grippers, a feed board, sheet supporting fingers rejecting from the front d board over the cylinder, front gages cotiperating with said fingers additional fingers arranged at the front 0 the feed board and below the path of. the sheets,-sheet controlled devices cotiperating therewith, and mechanism for withdrawing theadditional fingers previous to the operation of the grippers, substantially as described.'-

3. Thecombination vided with fingers exteningfrom thegfront end of the feed board beneath the front edge of the sheet when. in position to be seized by the grippers, sheet. controlled devices" cooperwith a cylinder proating therewith,'and mechanism for-with.

drawin the fingers from beneath the front by the grippers, substantially as described.

ippersand a feed boardaof d. The combination with a cylinder provided with grippers and a feed board ofa finger exten i j the sheet when in. position to be seized by the grippers, a notch in said finger, a controlling finger arranged to ride along the upper edge of the sheet until the end of the finger asses be ond the notch, and mechanism or with rawing said notched finger before the sheet is seized by'th'e" grippers,

substantially as described. 5. The cornb'nation with vided .with grippers, of fingers ha'vin t eir front ends extending in the direct on of feed beneath the front edge of the sheet ng beneath the front edge ofi a cylinder r0:

pers, and mechanism acting to with raw the fingers from beneath the sheet previous to the operation of the grippers, substantially as described.

In witness whereof, T have hereunto. set my hand, this 19th day of May.

rnamr n.

I Tn .the presence of TnA Ti. T rsrr, KATHARINE A. Duncan.

cnoss. 

